Global Urgent Care Centers Market to Expand at 3.8% CAGR due to Growing Demand from North America

The rise in the healthcare spending expenditure along with increasing geriatric population in particular has boosted the demand for cost-effective and convenient medical care worldwide. The urgent care model is designed to provide convenient access to quality, cost-effective healthcare services to general public around the world. The Urgent Care Association of America defines urgent care centers (UCCs) as medical care centers that provide health care services on a noâ€appointment or walk-in basis for illnesses or injuries that are not life threatening and are beyond the scope of traditional primary care or retail clinics. Majority of urgent care centers provide services for moderate illnesses, injuries and trauma, occupational medicine, routine vaccinations, physicals, lab tests, screening and monitoring. However, UCCs do not provide any ambulatory and critical care services. The UCCs market is highly fragmented, and small players such as physicians or physician groups own approximately 35% of the centers. The UCCs market was valued at USD 23.5 billion in 2013 and is expected to reach USD 30.5 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.

The global urgent care centers market is segmented on the basis of major services offered by the centers. These include services for moderate illness, injury and trauma, Physical, routine vaccination, diagnostic and screening and monitoring. The major share of the revenue was generated through illness services that accounted for majority of the share in the global urgent care centers market followed by the injury segment. Most of the visits in the urgent care centers market were for illness conditions of which the top five conditions (upper respiratory tract infections, pharyngitis, urinary tract infections, fever & cold and otitis media accounted for more than 50% of illness related visits.

Geographically, the global UCCs market has been segmented into four regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). North America held the majority share of the overall UCCs market, followed by Europe that accounted for the second largest share. North America is expected to retain its dominant position throughout the forecasted period. This is attributed to high adoption of UCCs for non-emergency conditions. The increase in demand for walk-in health services and the rise in demand for cost-effective medical care are also contributing to the growth of UCCs market in North America. In Asia Pacific region, Japan, India, China, Australia and New Zealand are the major countries that offer immense opportunities to companies operating in this market. In Rest of the World (RoW), Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Israel, Turkey and UAE are the major countries where UCCs market is expected to record significant growth.